Found a drone

[SB076]

My parents found a drone, unsure how long it has been there (it fell down the side of a shed and no idea how long it's been there). My parents gave it too me as they had no idea what to do with it. I removed the GoPro charged it up and from viewing the footage had a reasonable idea where the guy lived so took it around there but no one was answering the door. I noticed a ute in the driveway with a mobile number so left a message on the mobile, but never received a return call.

So my question is is there somewhere people list lost drones? Have googled lost drones and looked at a few drone forums. Ideally would like to return it to the owner as I believe it's worth a bit

[Trump]

You've done your bit, it's in their court if they want it back.

[uniacidz]

You have done your best

If you are kinder, hand into police and I think can claim it back after a period of time

Or just keep it


Sent from my HTC Liberty using Tapatalk 2

[.:4:.]

Maybe leave a note in the letterbox. It's strange to hear of somebody trying to do the right thing. I opened the thread expecting it to be a question on how to change the receiver on a drone they found. No video of it hovering beside girls bedroom windows? Those things are heavily regulated for such reasons and are banned from a 5k radius from airports, or 60(?)m from people.

[pursuit57]

As forementioned, you've tried your best - so keep it or flog it off...
Otherwise list it in Gumtree's lost n found ?

[SB076]

I feel for the guy it looks like he has only taken it for two flights, first one crashed straight after take off, second one looks like maximum throttle and up it went He then lost sight of it and it's flown for approx 20ks. Will drop it into a police station.

Didn't find it in gumtrees lost and found, it may have crashed sometime ago (even yeas) as it was down a dead side of a shed

[73 4V XB]

You could run the serial numbers from the GoPro to their site and see if anything comes up. If not it looks like you own a drone and a GoPro.

[CyberWasp]

That's the thing with fly away drones.
Do you put a contact number on your Drone in case you lose it.
Positive - A nice person may ring you and say they found it, and you get it back.
Negative - You might get a call from someone seeking compensation for damages if something nasty, or worse happens.

[creative]

which one is it?

[ljf12]

Many years ago one of my kids kicked a ball in to a neigbours yard, he was a grumpy old ***** ( I am one now) and he refused to give the ball back.

My wife told the story to a friend who used to be in the police force, he said it is possible to be charged with theft if you find something and don't make an attempt to find the owner and return it (theft by finding).

I remember the time a couple were charged when they bought a suitcase from a charity shop and found a heap of cash hidden inside, they kept the cash but were tracked down by the police.

I think the drone owner should be charged , could have hit you or your pet in the head !

[73 4V XB]

Originally Posted by ljf12

Many years ago one of my kids kicked a ball in to a neigbours yard, he was a grumpy old ***** ( I am one now) and he refused to give the ball back.

My wife told the story to a friend who used to be in the police force, he said it is possible to be charged with theft if you find something and don't make an attempt to find the owner and return it (theft by finding).

I remember the time a couple were charged when they bought a suitcase from a charity shop and found a heap of cash hidden inside, they kept the cash but were tracked down by the police.

I think the drone owner should be charged , could have hit you or your pet in the head !

That's the same as hitting a family pet, do you track them down and hit em up for damage or do you just let it go. More than often the repairs are far less than the time and effort to follow it through... unless you hit a cow or a horse.

[SB076]

Originally Posted by creative

which one is it?

Its a DJI phantom P330D

[creative]

you could try to pull the logs from it to see if it has recorded the last flight that may include where they took off from.

how to get to the logs

[pottery beige]

its mine gimme it back

please

[pursuit57]

Originally Posted by SB076

Didn't find it in gumtrees lost and found, it may have crashed sometime ago (even yeas) as it was down a dead side of a shed

I meant YOU could put a listing in gumtree under found...
But looks like you have made a bit of an effort to find the owner, maybe get a RC/Hobby shop to check it out and see if u can get a cheap controller.
Might be worthwhile as think these Drone's sold for around $600 ?

[SB076]

Originally Posted by pursuit57

I meant YOU could put a listing in gumtree under found...
But looks like you have made a bit of an effort to find the owner, maybe get a RC/Hobby shop to check it out and see if u can get a cheap controller.
Might be worthwhile as think these Drone's sold for around $600 ?

Yep did email the wholesaler, who replied and said given the age he cant track and this drone doesn't have logs.

No problems PB, I will turn it on tonight and leave it on my roof so you can fly it back

[paule11]

I have found various things over the years handed them into the Police and after 3 months they contact you if no one has claimed it and if you want it they give it to you

[aussiblue]

In most, if not all Australian states, it's considered theft by finding if you don't hand it in to the police. But in some states, person is deemed to not have acted dishonestly, if it can be shown that all reasonable steps were taken to identify or locate the owner before appropriating the property. See http://www.sydneycriminallawyers.com...ed-with-theft/ , http://brendanwilkinson.net/theft-by-finding/ etc

[Danny]

Wait a sec, it flew 20kay and you were able to trace it back to someone's house??

[SB076]

Originally Posted by Danny

Wait a sec, it flew 20kay and you were able to trace it back to someone's house??

Correct the drone has a GoPro so i checked the footage. The house the drone took off from was easy to find. So i went to the house but no answer. They had a car parked on their property with a mobile number so i called the mobile number and left a message.

Aussieblue i contacted the wholesaler who bought it in, but apparently this is one of the earlier drones and doesnt have a log or any other means of being traced. I will keep the correspondence but will drop it around to the police.

[SB076]

Update: I have been in contact with a person who noticed this thread, sadly its not theirs. I spoke to the police, they said they would most likely destroy it (which surprised me as I thought although it doesn't warrant an investigation they would hang on to it and see if the owner showed up)

The drone was found in Victoria (on the Peninsula)

[Fed]

'Destroy it' is probably Police Code for 'take it home to play with'.

[DBourne]

Originally Posted by Fed

'Destroy it' is probably Police Code for 'take it home to play with'.

Or they're confident in their flying skills.. confident that they don't exist

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by SB076

Update: I have been in contact with a person who noticed this thread, sadly its not theirs. I spoke to the police, they said they would most likely destroy it (which surprised me as I thought although it doesn't warrant an investigation they would hang on to it and see if the owner showed up)

You've done what you could to return it to the owner, and probably much more than most people would do.

Go to Jaycar and see if you can get a remote for it and have fun.

[2011G6E]

Talked to a "drone guy" a while back who was using it to take images of houses from the air for real estate websites. I asked if he ever lost one. He said yep, happened a few times. He said if something went wrong and it flew off too far away to see where it went, he would try to find it and maybe put a lost and found advert out there, but he usually just accepted it was gone and wrote it off.

Enjoy your drone and Go-Pro...

[.:4:.]

I read that some high end drones have gps in them so when they lose transmitter signal, the fly back to the pre programmed gps location. That won't work if it crashes first though.